Teaching Tools

Over the last dozen years, River Network has trained thousand of watershed activists to use the Clean Water Act to protect and restore their rivers. We've also trained dozens of leades to do Clean Water Act trainings in their own state or watershed. This "teaching tools" area of the online course provides examples of some to the teaching methods we've found to work over the years.

The following are examples of the types of exercises developed to explain the Clean Water Act to an beginner audience. Upon request, we can also provide you with the powerpoint presentations we use to train watershed leaders on the core Clean Water Act concepts.

If you are interested in more information about and support for conducting your own training, please contact Merritt Frey or Gayle Killam.

DESIGNATED USES

ACTIVITY 1: Explaining Designated Uses

Draw a river on a flipchart. Ask the audience to list the uses of the river. As they call the uses out, write them down on the flipchart along side the river. Don't limit their answers to beneficial uses.

Pass out the state water quality standards (or the relevant parts). Point them to the right page and ask them to read out the designated uses, both state-wide and for the waterbody that you're focusing on. As they call out the designated uses, circle the matching uses on your flipchart diagram. Also, ask, "Which uses did we think of that the state agency missed?" Circle these uses in a different colored marker. Ask, "Which uses did the state agency think of that we missed?" Write these uses down in a different colored marker.

Tell the audience that they should pay attention to the uses that the state missed. There are opportunities for public input (the triennial review of water quality standards being one of them) and it could be important to point out uses that aren't being protected.

EXERCISE 1: What is a segment?

When discussing the concept of segments, ask the audience what it means when a segment "makes sense." Are segments determined by natural features (river bends), by uses (urban vs. rural) or by other factors?

WATER QUALITY CRITERIA

ACTIVITY 1: Explaining Water Quality Criteria

Look back at the river diagram that you started in the Uses exercise. Ask the audience what characteristics of the waterbody need to be monitored to protect the uses that they have identified.

If possible, write the characteristics that they suggest on the river diagram near the use that they apply to (e.g., bacteria would be listed next to swimming). Encourage ideas/thinking about unusual characteristics that the agency doesn't think of (e.g., monitoring the amount of impervious surface to protect for aquatic life, aquatic habitat, etc.).

Open the water quality standards and direct the audience to the criteria section. Ask the audience to pick a designated use or two and list the related criteria.

When the groups call out answers, circle the characteristics that are already on the river diagram. Also, ask, "Which characteristics did we think of that the state agency missed?" Circle these criteria in a different colored marker. Ask, "Which characteristics did the state agency think of that we missed?" Write down these characteristics in a different colored marker. (You don't need to write the numbers/concentrations on the diagram, but the audience may want to call them out.)

EXERCISE 1: What is a "sensitive use"?

To illustrate a "sensitive use" and to make the connection between sensitive uses and criteria, you can do the following exercise:

Create a matrix on another flipchart, but don't fill in headings or "x"s yet.
Referring to the river diagram that you used in the Uses and Criteria exercises, ask which uses are the most sensitive. Take down "swimming," "drinking water" and "aquatic life" as they say them. Now, write in "Temperature," "Bacteria" and "Lead" along the top.
Ask which use is the most sensitive to temperature. Answer: aquatic life. Mark the X.
Ask which use is the most sensitive to bacteria. Answer: swimming. Mark the X.
Ask which use is the most sensitive to lead. Answer: drinking water. Mark the X. (Point out that the Clean Water Act assumes the treatment of drinking water).

By the end of this exercise, the audience should understand that different characteristics of the water are important to different sensitive uses.

EXERCISE 2: Explaining maximum, minimum and range criteria

Ask the audience for examples of numeric criteria that would require a maximum measurement/criteria (e.g. bacteria). You can either ask for or give examples of a minimum measurement/criteria (e.g. dissolved oxygen) and range measurement/criteria (e.g. pH), depending on how much time you have.

EXERCISE 3: What are "narrative criteria"?

Ask the audience what narrative criteria they saw in the water quality standards. Point out the "free from" standards and any other interesting narrative criteria.

ANTIDEGRADATION

ACTIVITY 1: What is "Tier I" and what does it do?

Identify or create a hypothetical waterbody (you can use the example from the Uses and Criteria exercises).

Identify or revisit existing uses.

Ask the audience (whole group, small group, or individual quiet time) to suggest activities that might be proposed in the waterbody.

Discuss impacts to existing uses and strategies. For example, go to public meetings and recite Tier I language and likely impacts with documentation if possible.

ACTIVITY 2: What is "assimilative capacity"?

Draw the following diagram on a flip chart:

The waterbody we are looking at is high quality for this parameter (level of pollutant is below the standard).

We don't want to allow more of the pollutant, which would reduce the quality to the bare minimum standard or worse.

The leeway between the observed level of pollutant and the standard is the water's assimilative capacity.

Tier 2 protects this assimilative capacity by limiting additional pollutants.

EXERCISE 1: Alternatives and the socio-economic test

Ask for examples of a project where alternatives could be considered. What are the alternatives? Ask for examples of how social and economic factors could work both for and against you.

EXERCISE 2: Identifying Tier III waters

Ask audience to list waters that fit this description. They don't have to be pristine; they may be impaired.

POINT SOURCE DISCHARGES/NPDES

ACTIVITY 1: What is going into our water?

Start your presentation with a glass of water and ask audience to pour stuff from their glasses into it (coffee, orange juice, soda. Each new pour is another permitted discharge.)

This symbolizes the power of improving permits, reaching toward elimination of discharge.

ACTIVITY 2: Is this a point source?

Gather a few pictures of different types of discharges. Ask the audience to identify whether each is a point source. Potential pictures include municipal, industrial, and stormwater discharges; feed lots (CAFOs); etc.

ACTIVITY 3: Explaining how to navigate NPDES permits

Develop a worksheet (or put a few questions on a flipchart) that creates a scavenger hunt to get folks moving around the permit. Have them break into pairs or threes and work through some questions about how to find basic information in permits:

Receiving water body
Location of discharge
Authorization/Expiration dates
What pollutants are addressed
Pollutant limits - monthly average or daily max
Monitoring requirements for a specific pollutant
Variances
Reported violations

Give them 10-15 minutes depending on how many things they are looking for.

In the large group, have a different group answer each question. Encourage discussion. What else did they find out while they were hunting?

TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOADS

Please note: These sample exercises were developed by the Clean Water Network to explain the TMDL program to an audience. I

ACTIVITY 1: What does the 303(d) list tell us?

Hand out the state 303(d) list. Have people find a waterbody on the list with which they are familiar. Ask them to tell the waterbody's story using the information on the list. (Example: a 4 mile piece of the River Ick in Ada County is polluted by phosphorus. Recreational and aquatic life uses are impaired.) What parts of the story does it NOT tell?

Have the audience use the 303(d) list to examine prioritization for TMDLs. Ask someone to find his or her local waterbody and identify the priority. Can they tell why the priority level was chosen (if described in listing document)? Can they tell when the TMDL will be done?

EXERCISE 1: What's in a name?

Your goals for this exercise:

Remind your audience about the basics of TMDLs by bringing it down to the most basic level - the name.
Make the transition from listing/prioritization to actual TMDL development.

Write T, M, D, and L across the middle of a sheet of butcher block in big letters. Ask your audience to tell you (and write their answers under the relevant letter):

What does that letter stand for (e.g. T = Total)? Write the audience's answers below each letter. NOTE: do all 4 letters before moving on to number 2.
What is a common sense definition for the word each letter stands for (e.g. total means all, maximum means most or a limit, etc.)? Write the audience's answers above each letter.

Explain that the beauty of TMDLs is that they address ALL sources of pollution (total), that they set a quantifiable limit (maximum), that they require standards to be met at all times (daily) and that they set a measurable goal (load).

After you walk through this exercise, tell your audience that they now know as much or more about TMDLs than some people who are writing them! Again, stress the relative simplicity of the concept - setting a daily limit on the load of a pollutant in a watershed.

EXERCISE 2: Using a "Teaching TMDL"

In order to give your audience a hands-on experience with a TMDL, you can choose to use a local example. Try to choose a Teaching TMDL that is: from the area (if possible!), illustrative of problems the audience is likely to deal with (i.e. if sediment is the number one problem, try to find a sediment TMDL), relatively short, not too wonderful or too terrible (so the audience can see that this could be a useful tool but doesn't miss the chance to learn the problems to watch for).

Throughout your presentation you can ask your audience to find examples of specific items in the teaching TMDL, such as the:

Problem statement
Loading capacity: Is it a load? What are the units for the load? Can they tell where the loading number came from? What flow was used?
Source assessment: Does the agency seem to have a handle on the sources?
Wasteload allocation (for all point sources): Are individual wasteload allocations (for specific dischargers) included? How are general permits addressed (if applicable)?
Load allocation (for all nonpoint sources): Does the TMDL break down load allocations for specific dischargers, sub-watersheds, or other subcategories? Does the agency properly identify dischargers as nonpoint (vs. point source)?
Natural background load: Does natural really sound like natural? If there is no specific set aside for background, can they see it incorporated into the load allocations?
Margin of Safety: Is it explicit or implicit? If it is explicit, how was the number chosen? If it is implicit, what are the conservative assumptions? Are those actually conservative? Does the implicit argument "double dip" on other requirements such as critical conditions?
Future growth: Is it accounted for? If it is, how? If it isn't, is future growth a concern? Ask your audience how they would advocate for including a consideration for growth.
Load allocations: How were the allocations decided on? If you can tell how, do you agree with the approach? If you can't tell how, what factors do you think were used? How would you have approached this?
Implementation ideas: Does it include the pieces of the puzzle you discussed? Is there enough there to convince us that this will be implemented and be successful? If there is no language on implementation, what would people want to see in an implementation plan for this TMDL?
Monitoring requirements: Does it include the logistical details (where, when, who, funding, connection to milestones and revision procedures)? Does it address all four kinds of monitoring needs? Are the monitoring results tied back to review of the implementation plan?

EXERCISE 3: Converting concentrations to loads

Part 1: Your goal for this exercise is to prove that:

All the math looks scary, but we all actually know how to do this math in our every day lives.

Explain to your audience that they are café owners. They serve sweet tea at their café.

Write all of the italic text below on butcher-block paper (you may want to write it out beforehand) with blanks for the concentration and load. Ask the audience to fill in the blanks.

Your recipe calls for 1 pound of sugar per 100 gallons of water. If you need to make 300 gallons of sweet tea in a day, what is:

The concentration of the sugar in the sweet tea: _______

The load of sugar you need per day: _____

After they have successfully done the math, explain that they have just done a concentration/load conversion in their head. The conversion is something we can do pretty easily!

Note: The correct concentration is 1 pound/100 gallons. The correct load is 3 pounds per day.

Part 2:
Your goals for this exercise are to prove that:

Even when the math gets a little more complicated, it isn't too bad.

Using conversion factors is pretty easy. Just be sure to pick the right one and trust that it works.

Write all of the italic text below on butcher-block paper (you may want to write it out before hand) with blanks for the loading capacity. You may want to put the slide with the loading capacity formula back up too (slide #22). Ask people to fill in the three blanks in the formula. Then ask them to calculate the load.

The River Ick is polluted by Gluck. A TMDL is being developed and the identified target is: 2.0 mg/L of Gluck.

The critical flow was found to be: 100 cubic feet per second (cfs)

Conversion factors for mg/L:
" If cfs: 5.39
" If MGD: 8.34

What is the loading capacity for Gluck in the River Ick?

____ X ____ X ____ = _______

Explain that this equation works because you are figuring out how much Gluck is moving through the system - the concentration tells you the strength of the Gluck/water mixture while the flow tells you the volume you are working with. Combining the two produces the total amount or "load" of gluck.

The equation should look like this: 2.0 mg/L X 100 cfs X 5.39 = 1,078 pounds/day. Amazingly, there is always someone who can do the math in their head!

(Gluck is an imaginary pollutant. Use this so that people don't get distracted with discussing the details of how a specific pollutant acts or varies in the environment.)

EXERCISE 4: How is the load divided?

Write the equation below on butcher block. Explain that each piece must be reduced until it is less than or equal to the loading capacity established earlier.

The sum of point sources + nonpoint sources + margin of safety + natural background must be less than or equal to the loading capacity.

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